Key Challenges and Industry Performance Tss 2011

8/3/2019 Key Challenges and Industry Performance Tss 2011

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Key Challenges and

Industry Performance


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Notes to Readers:

All figures in the charts and tables in this report are expressed in percentages, unless otherwise

noted. Total percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

512 qualified sustainability experts completed the on-line questionnaire July 13 August 19, 2011.

Respondents were drawn from: corporate, government, non-governmental, academic/research,

and service (e.g., consulting) organizations.

Experts surveyed span 64 countries in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe, North America, Latin

America, Caribbean, Australia, and New Zealand, and comprise a highly-experienced respondent

pool: 63 percent have more than ten years of experience working on sustainability issues.

27 percent have five to ten years of experience.

10 percent have three to four years of experience.

Respondents with less than three years of sustainability experience have been excluded

from the results.

Methodology


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Experts rate climate change, water scarcity and food security as the worlds most urgent

challenges; this highlights the severity of the energy-water-food nexus

Yet the urgency of top issues has declined since 2009 due to a combination of factors

Experts predict that energy and climate change will pose the most urgent sustainable

development challenge in their countrynext year

Europeans and North Americans are most concerned with energy and climate, while those fromemerging markets focus on climate and water issues

According to experts, no sector is managing the transition to sustainable development effectively;

all 17 sectors are perceived as net negative

Leading sectors including forest products have shown marginal improvement in their ability to

manage the transition to sustainability in recent years

Experts say the electronics and chemical sectors ability to manage the transition to sustainabilityhas deteriorated most since 2000

Key Findings


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Prioritizing SD Challenges


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Experts rate climate change, water scarcity and food security asworlds most urgent challenges; highlight energy-water-food nexus

TSS11_w4_2

81

79

73

72

71

70

63

61

60

59

59

56

54

5450

47

45

41

41

32

11

12

17

19

22

23

24

25

29

26

26

31

32

3228

34

36

37

35

37

5

6

7

8

4

5

10

12

9

12

13

11

1220

15

17

19

22

29

3

3

3

1

3

2

3

2

2

3

2

2

3

22

4

2

3

2

2

Climate change

Water scarcity

Food security

Poverty

Biodiversity loss

Water pollutionCorruption

Human rights

Access to medicines/healthcare

Access to energy

Malnutrition

Expanding primary/secondary education

Air pollution

Economic developmentOcean acidification

Persistent, bioaccumulative toxins

Infectious disease (e.g., malaria and HIV/AIDS)

Diversity/discrimination (gender/economic/racial)

Access to information

Electronic waste

Urgent (4+5) Neutral (3) Not urgent (1+2) DK/NA

Considering societys numerous sustainable development challenges, please rate the urgency of each of the following :. Please use ascale of 1 to 5 where 1 means not urgent at all and 5 means very urgent.


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Yet the urgency of all top issues has declined since 2009 due to acombination of factors

Considering societys numerous sustainable development challenges, please rate the urgency of each of the following :. Please use ascale of 1 to 5 where 1 means not urgent at all and 5 means very urgent.

TSS11w4_2_track

Urgent (4+5), Top Five Issues, 20092011

81

79

73

72

71

82

87

73

77

73

89

93

76

84

82

Climatechange

Waterscarcity

Food security

Poverty

Biodiversity

loss

2011

2010

2009

Commentary

Reasons for the decline inurgency may include:

Continued economic malaise Frustration with the lack of

political will to enact effectivepolicy changes

Acceptance that these issuesas a permanent part of oursocial and political economy

The diversity and complexity of

global issues is taking thefocus off the top issues


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SD Issue Agenda for Next Year


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Experts predict that energy and climate change will pose the mosturgent sustainable development challenge in their countrynext year

What do you consider to be the most urgent sustainable development challenges facing your country over the next year? Pleaseenter up to two responses

TSS11_w4_1

31

19

16

12

11

11

9

7

6

6

5

4

3

3

2

2

1

Energy issues

Climate change

Water issues

Political failure (lack of will/regulation)

Awareness

Economic issues

Balancing growth and sustainability

Poverty and inequity

Introducing carbon tax/pricing / carbon-free economy

Over-consumption/population

Deforestation / land use

Transportation/infrastructure

Preserving biodiversity/ecosystems

Food scarcity/quality

Corruption

Phase-out/clean-up of nuclear power

Education

Commentary

It is interesting that foodscarcity/quality ranks lowhere, but among the top threeglobal issues. Experts believethat food scarcity/quality will

be a problem somewhere elsein the world. This result mayreflect underweighting ofrespondents from emergingmarkets which will beimpacted most.


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While energy is consistently the top challenge, corporate expertsshow higher concern for water issues and NGOs for awareness


Government NGO Institutional CorporateService/media

Energy issues 33 33 27 32 32

Climate change 18 14 20 20 19

Water issues 8 10 17 23 16

Political failure (lack of will/regulation) 13 14 14 7 12Economic issues 18 9 12 13 8

Awareness 10 16 10 9

Balancing growth and sustainability 13 7 10 13 3

Poverty and inequity 3 5 9 7 6

Over-consumption/population 10 2 10 9 3

Introducing carbon tax/pricing / carbon-

free economy 8 3 4 6 10

Deforestation / land use 0 10 4 4 5

Transportation/infrastructure 0 7 5 3 5


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Europeans and North Americans most concerned with energy andclimate, and those in emerging markets focus on energy and water


30

23

18

17

14

10

9

3

3

36

18

8

12

9

11

16

6

3

27

13

24

9

8

6

10

13

11

Energy issues

Climate change

Water issues

Political failure(lack of will/regulation)

Awareness

Balancing growth andsustainability

Economic issues

Poverty and inequity

Deforestation / land use

North America

Europe

Emerging markets*

*Includes Asia, Africa / Middle East,and Latin America / Caribbean


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Industry Performance


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According to experts, no sector is managing the transition tosustainable development effectively

TSS11_w4_4

7

8

9

10

11

12

12

12

13

13

14

14

17

17

23

24

29

22

18

26

33

30

33

31

24

31

31

33

31

36

36

35

36

29

66

70

59

52

53

51

52

58

51

52

49

49

41

34

34

37

5

4

6

5

6

4

5

6

5

4

4

6

4

6

8

6

5

Mining

Oil/gas

Alcoholic beverage

Electronics

Pharmaceutical

Automotive

Chemical

Banking/finance

Consumer goods

Public sector institutions / government agencies

Electric utilities

PackagingAgriculture / food/beverage

Telecommunications

Life sciences / biotechnology

Information technology

Forest products

Good (4+5) Neutral (3) Poor (1+2) DK/NA

Please rate how well each of the following industry sectors is managing its transition to sustainable development in your country orregion. Please use the 5-point scale provided (where 1 is "poor" and 5 is "excellent").


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Leading sectors including forest products have shown marginalimprovement in the ability to manage the transition to sustainability


TSS11w4_4_track1

0

10

20

30

40Forest products

Information technology

Life sciences /

biotechnologyAgriculture /food/beverageElectric utilities

Packaging

Good (4+5), 20002011


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In decline: Experts say the electronics and chemical sectors abilityto manage the transition has deteriorated most since 2000


TSS11w4_4_track2

0

10

20

30

40 Telecommunications

Public sector institutions/ government agenciesBanking/finance

Chemical

Pharmaceutical

Electronics

Oil/gas

Mining

Good (4+5), 20002011


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Chris Coulter, Senior Vice President

[email protected]

GlobeScan Incorporated

65 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 900Toronto, Canada M4T 2Y3

Toronto: +1 416 962 0707London: +44 20 7253 1450San Francisco: +1 415 874 3154www.globescan.com

Jeff Erikson, Senior Vice President

[email protected]

SustainAbility, Ltd.

1638 R Street NW, Suite 301Washington, DC 20009

Washington: +1 202 315 4150London: +44 20 7269 6900www.sustainability.com

September 2011GlobeScan

For more information, contact:
mailto:[email protected]://www.globescan.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.sustainability.com/http://www.sustainability.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.globescan.com/mailto:[email protected]

Key Challenges and Industry Performance Tss 2011

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